Items virtually available to commuters: Smart devices use billboards to put in orders for delivery

Published 10:33 pm, Friday, October 5, 2012

Fairfield resident Bob Keane walks past the new interactive billboard featuring Peapod by Stop & Shop, at the train station in Fairfield, Conn. on Thursday October 4, 2012. By scanning the square on the ad, commuters can use their smartphones to shop for items from the store to be delivered right to their homes. less

Fairfield resident Bob Keane walks past the new interactive billboard featuring Peapod by Stop & Shop, at the train station in Fairfield, Conn. on Thursday October 4, 2012. By scanning the square on the ad, ... more

A view of the new interactive billboard featuring Peapod by Stop & Shop, at the train station in Fairfield, Conn. on Thursday October 4, 2012. By scanning the square on the ad, commuters can use their smartphones to shop for items from the store to be delivered right to their homes. less

A view of the new interactive billboard featuring Peapod by Stop & Shop, at the train station in Fairfield, Conn. on Thursday October 4, 2012. By scanning the square on the ad, commuters can use their ... more

A view of the new interactive billboard featuring Peapod by Stop & Shop, at the train station in Fairfield, Conn. on Thursday October 4, 2012. By scanning the square on the ad, commuters can use their smartphones to shop for items from the store to be delivered right to their homes. less

A view of the new interactive billboard featuring Peapod by Stop & Shop, at the train station in Fairfield, Conn. on Thursday October 4, 2012. By scanning the square on the ad, commuters can use their ... more

You've had a long day at the office and the train's rhythmic rocking is lulling you to sleep, when you get a text telling you to pick up diapers in the next day or two, and maybe some body wash. You can swing by the store on the way home, or beginning this week, use the short, digital shopping aisle that's opened on some of Metro-North's New Haven Line rail station platforms.

Display advertisements that look like grocery store shelves filled with products from peanut butter to diapers have been installed at the Darien, Fairfield, Old Greenwich, Rowayton, Westport and Brewster, N.Y., train stations. Commuters with iPhones, iPads and Android phones can connect with Peapod's online store by scanning a QR code, downloading an app and then scanning one of the items on display. You can also do a full shop from your electronic device.

"Getting your groceries on the way home from work just got a whole new meaning," Michael Brennan, chief operating officer of Peapod, the Stop & Shop home delivery service, said in announcing the new virtual rail marketing campaign.

The concept is a way for Peapod and its national brand partners to focus on their target consumers. They will be in place for about 12 weeks, allowing people to place their orders. Metro-North and the state Department of Transportation use the revenue from the advertisements to help fund the New Haven Line.

The program coincides with the launch of 100 virtual grocery stores in major metropolitan regions, including Boston, New York and Chicago, aimed at capturing the attention of the commuter who spends more than 200 hours a year in transit. Customers have access to more than 11,000 products on the Peapod app.

Peapod, a unit of Netherlands-based Ahold NV, an international owner of supermarketsthat include Stop & Shop, is ahead of its competition in offering the QR service, according to Michael Berger, senior editor of the Griffin Report of Food Marketing at Griffin Publishing Co.

"They're getting to commuters who can order their groceries from the train station. The whole thing is the app. It's more of a marketing thing," Berger said.

Peapod has offered online shopping for some time, he said, and its popularity continues to grow.

"It's not a fad," he said.

Use of the QR code technology spread to the United States after getting its start in Seoul, South Korea, with Tesco plc, a British grocery and merchandise retailer, and then in London, said Darien resident Kevin Coupe, editor of www.morningnewsbeat.com, focusing on the food and retail industries.

"It's an amazingly powerful driver of online business. It's a proven success," Coupe said. "It's a fabulous idea. Online shopping for groceries in the U.S. is in its infancy. The next generation has no allegiance to the grocery-shopping experience. This plays right into the hands of the way they think. It's a smart thing that a progressive retailer needs to do."

Getting attention could be more difficult in Fairfield County, where the signs are smaller than in the larger metropolitan train stations. Several people at the Fairfield and Darien stations were seen walking by the billboards not having noticed them.

To be sure, a few regular commuters on the platform in Farifield on Thursday said they've seen people already connect with the program by phone.

"This will go great in New York City because so many people are getting their groceries delivered," said Cody Smolik, of the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, who was taking the train to New York. She said she probably wouldn't use the service, though.

"I have so many gadgets, I can't stand it anymore."

Two individuals waiting at the Darien train station to board a New York-bound train were intrigued by Peapod's strategy.

When New Canaan resident Matt Wexler was living in New York City, he used his computer to shop online with Fresh Direct, and he wanted to learn more about Peapod's QR code program.

"I think it's a good idea. It was a piece of cake with Fresh Direct," he said.

Sitting a short distance away was Sam Salem, visiting from Leeds, England.

"I think it's a super idea, but I think the billboards should be better situated and there should be more of them," he said.